Jimi Hendrix in London

 By Ian Mole

As the 40th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's death approaches, Ian Mole writes about the musician and his time in London.

Jimi Hendrix had informed a friend that in the event of his death he didn’t want to be buried in his home city of Seattle, Washington but in London, the city where his musical career really began to take off and which he once described as a giant candy-store. As it turned out, he didn’t get his wish but he’ll always be associated with London and the musical explosion of the Sixties.

In his excellent book on Hendrix (‘Crosstown Traffic:Jimi Hendrix and Postwar Pop’) Charles Shaar Murray describes how he didn’t just arrive from nowhere as a fully-formed guitar hero but had worked for years criss-crossing the States supporting artists such as Little Richard and Ike and Tina Turner, and was very much a disciple of the blues tradition.

As is well known, Chas Chandler, former bassist with the Animals and in New York looking for acts to manage, had the good fortune to snap up Jimi and bring him to London in September 1966. On the way in from Heathrow they stopped off at the flat of a seminal Sixties musician, Zoot Money, at 11 Gunterstone Road W14. Future Police guitarist Andy Summers was living downstairs but more importantly for Jimi a young woman called Kathy Etchingham was living in the flat upstairs at the time and later that day she was to enter into a three year relationship with Jimi after meeting him at the Scotch of St James, a very hip club located at 13 Masons Yard SW1. This was where Jimi played solo for his first British gig that night, before Chas hauled him offstage because he had no work-permit. Kathy has written her own very readable and down to earth account of her life in this period in her book ‘Through Gypsy Eyes’.

When you’re a kid, you always know that something special is happening when your dad manages to tear himself away from the evening paper to gaze in horror at Top of the Pops and mutter, “What the hell is this rubbish?” Thus it was in December 1966 that my dad confirmed Jimi’s arrival on the British scene at large. As soon as he got here, he entered into a whirlwind of activity, firstly recruiting his fellow players in the Experience. Noel Redding was a lead-guitarist but quickly adapted to bass and Mitch Mitchell’s wild drumming was a perfect complement to Jimi, just as in their contemporaries, The Who, Keith Moon and Pete Townshend played off each other. Word went round like wildfire about Jimi and soon other established stars, including Lennon and McCartney, took every opportunity to promote Jimi in their own interviews. In this early period the Experience played many gigs around London including at the Speakeasy in Margaret Street W1, the Roundhouse in Kentish Town, the fabled Marquee Club in Wardour Street, Soho and even at Chislehurst Caves on the south-east outskirts. On 1st October he got up to jam with Cream at Regent Polytechnic (now Westminster University) at Portland Hall in Little Titchfield Street W1. At the time Eric Clapton was very much the guitar god but after Jimi had stunned the audience playing ‘Killing Floor’ while going through his full repertoire of tricks, Eric had to sit down and have a good cup of tea. One of the students in the audience that night was Roger Waters.

Some of his early work was recorded at Olympic Studios at 117 Church Road, Barnes SW13 including ‘Are You Experienced?’, ‘If Six Was Nine’ and, a year later, part of his epic version of ‘All Along the Watchtower’. His first single release was his version of ‘Hey Joe’, which became a hit around Christmas and was the song which aroused my dad’s ire. I recall the performance well and Jimi was doing his full routine of playing the guitar behind his head and with his teeth. Sadly, this very gimmickry which helped to create such a stunning initial reaction in the U.K. would become a millstone around his neck and detract from his serious musical concerns.

In those days many bands would be packaged together and sent out on huge national tours, no matter how disparate their styles might be. I’ve heard that the fledgling Pink Floyd managed a 10-minute set on such a tour. Anyway, in early 1967 Jimi found himself out on the road with the Walker Brothers (a sort of prototype, and by no means untalented, boy band) and none other than crooner Engelbert Humperdinck. Surprisingly perhaps Jimi was a fan of Engie’s vocal style and was often to be seen watching his set admiringly from the wings. Jimi was not at all confident about his own vocals and I suppose he was keen to learn from whatever source.

Domestically, Jimi initially lived at the Hyde Park Towers Hotel in Inverness Terrace W2, round the corner from Bayswater tube. In those days it wasn’t the impressive establishment it is now, and was in a distinctly ramshackle condition. In early 1967 he and Kathy moved into Ringo’s flat at 34 Montagu Square W1; they were in the basement while Chas and his girlfriend were on the ground-floor. Apparently the neighbours didn’t take too kindly to them and anyway Jimi and Chas had a terminal bust up while off on tour in 1968 so sharing a kitchen was deemed to be not on in future. After they had all left, John and Yoko moved in, which must have delighted the neighbours, and the flat was the location of their infamous nude photo-shot for the cover of ‘Two Virgins’ as well as their arrest for possession of marijuana in October 1968. After a brief stay in nearby Upper Berkeley Street, Jimi and Kathy found themselves a more permanent place at 23 Brook Street W1, while a previous resident at 25 had been none other than George Frederick Handel. If you go there today, you’ll see blue plaques for both of these musical geniuses on the adjoining buildings. Jimi once claimed to have seen the ghost of a man in ancient garb when he was there but, between you and me, I think he probably saw quite a few things that weren’t really there. From 18th-25th September 2010 you can visit Jimi's Brook Street flat and tickets (£8 + transaction charge) are available on www.seetickets.com (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10-6; Thursday 10-8 and Sunday 12-6).

Jimi had had a very disrupted childhood and as well as a stint in the army had travelled extensively around the States so his period at Brook Street was one of comparative domestic calm. However, he was to spend more and more time on tour and he set up his own Electric Ladyland studios in Manhattan.

Jimi recorded extensively for BBC Radio and many of these tracks are available on BBC Records. During one session at Broadcasting House in Portland Place W1 he was playing so loudly that the producer of a live classical broadcast in the studio below was obliged to come up and ask him to turn it down a bit. I’ve heard a tape of him jamming Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Was Made To Love Her’ with Stevie on drums at the Playhouse Theatre in Northumberland Avenue WC2 where the BBC used to do many of their live recordings.

As I said, his career caused Jimi to spend more and more time away from London and his relationship with Kathy had ended by late 1969. When he returned for concerts such as his famous Isle of Wight Festival appearance in August 1970 he stayed in large hotels on or around Park Lane. His last public performance was jamming with his old friend Eric Burdon’s band War at Ronnie Scott’s Club in Soho two days before he died. At the time of his death on 18th September 1970 he was booked in at the Cumberland Hotel in Great Cumberland Place W1 although he actually died, of an accidental overdose of barbiturates, in the basement of the Samarkand Hotel at 22 Lansdowne Crescent W11. He was taken to St Mary Abbots Hospital in Kensington W8, where he was pronounced dead.

Ian Mole

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